Federal prosecutors are investigating sexual assault and sex trafficking allegations against World Wrestling Entertainment co-founder Vince McMahon, according to a report published Friday by the Wall Street Journal.
Last week McMahon stepped down as executive chairman and board member of TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of WWE, after a former employee, Janel Grant, filed a lawsuit accusing him of sex trafficking and sexual misconduct.
Grant’s lawsuit said that McMahon made her sign a non-disclosure agreement in exchange for $3 million in 2022 to keep quiet about their relationship. After a payment of $1 million, he stopped paying her, according to the lawsuit.
Grant’s lawsuit alleged that McMahon put her through sexual acts that were done with ‘extreme cruelty and degradation.’ WWE’s former head of talent relations John Laurinaitis was also named in the suit.
The 78-year-old McMahon denied the claims from Grant. “I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations, and look forward to clearing my name,” he said in a statement.
According to the Wall Street Journal, last summer federal agents searched McMahon’s phone looking for documents related to any allegation of “rape, sex trafficking, sexual assault, commercial sex transaction, harassment or discrimination” against current or former WWE employees.
The Journal reported that Grant and at least four other women who had settlement agreements with McMahon after they accused him of sexual misconduct were named in a grand jury subpoena. Prosecutors in New York have interviewed some of the women, according to the report.